Dealers Fight Back With Video

Chrysler LLC and General Motors Co. dealers eliminated during the auto maker bankruptcy proceedings this summer are posting videos on YouTube telling their stories. The dealers are hoping to keep pressure on Congress and the auto makers to provide either restitution or reinstatement of their stores.

At the urging of several high-ranking congressional members, conversations between GM, Chrysler and rejected dealers were to begin the first week of October to try to agree on a settlement, rather than seeking a legislative solution.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Dept. indicated it will audit the process and criteria GM and Chrysler used to determine which dealers to reject.

So far, 47 dealers had uploaded videos to the site. The videos had generated anywhere from 60 to 900 views per video.

On the videos, dealers shared the history of their family-run businesses. Others gave tours of their now-defunct dealerships. Many were emotional.

Jim Tarbox, a Rhode Island Chrysler dealer, used his video to share what he calls the “smoking gun” to prove Chrysler used the bankruptcy to get rid of dealers it considered to be a problem. He had previously sued the auto makers.

The video highlights an email exchange between Chrysler executives regarding Tarbox saying: ‘This is going to be a tough one-His dealerships are performing fine with good scorecards.”

The reply: “He's a belligerent, combative dealer who litigates & protests any new Jeep franchise in the Providence, RI area… Management made decision to cut him-He has not operated in good faith.”